Becoming a mother has always been an opportunity Ashantithe future, but even she did not expect that this would be accompanied by commitments with Nelly!
“Never in a million years did I think we’d be here,” the 43-year-old singer told ET’s Deidre Behar in an exclusive interview. “Ten years ago – maybe so – but after we broke up, you know, I didn’t even think we’d have a conversation again.”
Ashanti and Nelly, 49, who rekindled their long-standing romance, again and again last year after calling it quits in 2013, have become inseparable since sending the R&B world into a frenzy after being spotted together for the first time last year.
The couple began their rollercoaster romance in 2003, which at one point the rapper said was “media-based,” before officially ending the affair in 2013. Although they Having played coy about their status for years, Ashanti confirmed in March 2015 that they were a couple until two years ago.
Nearly a decade later, the two reconnected unexpectedly to Fat Joe and Ja Rule’s Verzuz battle in 2021. Nelly got Ashanti’s number from DJ City and, well, here she is three years later, engaged and taking ET behind the scenes of her maternity session with the photographer Derek Blanks, where she shared how Nelly reacted to her pregnancy.
“I was so shocked and happy and emotional,” Ashanti says of her pregnancy confirmation. “I’ve always dreamed of it. I wanted it so, so much and I feel like the timing was perfect.”
The maternity session takes place on the beach, and Ashanti tells ET that she’s “authentically” her.
“Being on the beach, in nature and in the sun is what makes me smile and makes me truly happy from the inside,” explains the singer. “Then obviously the girly, glam Ashanti princess vibe is there as well.”
The ‘Foolish’ singer shares she suspected she was expecting when she missed her period — which was After the viral December 2023 incident in which Nelly rubbed her belly while the couple performed on stage at the rapper’s annual Black and White Ball in St. Louis.
Nelly set tongues wagging when a video of the couple went viral; in the video, Ashanti seemingly places her hands on her stomach, prompting Nelly to rub the singer’s stomach and smile at the crowd. Ashanti playfully slaps her hands as the two burst out laughing and the audience applauds while producer Polow da Don encourages Nelly and Ashanti to “seal the deal”.
Although many began to speculate that the couple was expecting a child at the time, Ashanti told ET that neither of them knew about her pregnancy at the time and that the incident was a coincidence.
“When he blurted that out on stage, we didn’t know. I hadn’t even taken a test at that point,” she reveals. She goes on to explain that she didn’t have a visible stomach that she had put her hands on, she was just trying to adjust the pendant on her black dress.
She adds: “I pushed him down and he said it looked like something. And I was like, ‘No!'”
It was only after she missed her period that Ashanti suspected she was pregnant and immediately informed her fiancée via FaceTime after confirming her suspicions. “I couldn’t wait, I had to get it out,” she says. “And he said, ‘Oh, I knew.'”
“He was so happy and we were both smiling and it was so funny,” Ashanti says of Nelly’s reaction to their big news. “I was actually at his mom’s house… He was in the studio. It was a really cool moment. It was a little bit of everything.”
The baby will be Ashanti’s first child and Nelly’s third. The “Hot in Herre” rapper is the father of adult children Chanelle, 29, and Cornell Haynes III, 24, from a previous relationship. Nelly also adopted her sister, Jackie Donahue’s children – Shawn and Sydney Thomas – after her death from leukemia in 2005.
Ashanti announced her pregnancy in an Instagram video which shows the singer preparing for a performance. After one of her handlers checked on her, Ashanti’s mother, Tina Douglas, checked in a second time, asking the singer how much time she needed until she was ready. Ashanti emerges – dressed to the nines – and replies, “I’ll need about nine months,” prompting Tina to express her shock at the pregnancy news.
“I’ve been so lucky. It’s been an amazing pregnancy, I don’t have any symptoms,” Ashanti told ET of her pregnancy. “I’m still playing. So I’m so happy and so blessed.”
Even though the singer was able to keep up with the demands of her job, she admits it was difficult to change the way her body changed. “The bump is getting bigger, (there’s) nothing I can do about it!” she says. But she also admits that getting the news out was a “breath of fresh air,” even for two “very private people.”
“I always knew I wanted this to happen, you know, I always had dreams, I had visions that it was going to happen,” she shares. “Never in a million years would I have thought (Nelly and I) would be here. Like maybe 10 years ago, but after we broke up, I didn’t even think we’d have a conversation again. “
Now that it’s happening, Ashanti says she uses her mother as a source of parenting inspiration.
“Honestly, if I could look like a small part of what my mother is, I would be incredibly spectacular, out of this world. Honestly,” she swears. “I think my mother was just the epitome of unconditional love, it’s just unparalleled. You think of a selfless person, especially with my sister and I, and everyone says the same thing – Nelly, All the people in my life, all my peers, the friends, the team. They say: “No, Momager, it’s a different bond.
Joking that they call Tina the “general,” Ashanti says she can’t wait to be the “mini-general.” And, while she’s keeping mum about the baby’s gender and her list of potential names, the singer isn’t shy about sharing her hopes for how she and Nelly will approach parenthood.
Ashanti says she is grateful that her fiancé already has experience in the field. “I think he’s going to be amazing, he’s so good with his kids. When they get a chance to spend time together, he makes it count,” she gushes about her future husband. “They all had to make sacrifices because of (his) career and traveling and their childhood, you know. But when they’re together, it’s the best thing in the world to watch.”
“I can’t wait to see this little human version of myself and the person I love so much be here,” enthuses the singer. “I’m really looking forward to having an extension of both of us, being with us and seeing that spirit grow. It’s an incredible thing.”
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